132 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
quills dark brown, the primaries with a patch of white at their bases ; 
lores and a streak reaching to the nape black ; chin, throat, cheeks and 
ear-coverts fulvous white ; lower plumage chestnut, paler on the upper 
breast ; three outer pairs of tail-feathers black at base, ashy towards the 
tip, with a subterminal spot of white on the inner web ; the next two 
pairs slaty on the outer web and black on the inner, the tips of the 
latter being also slaty; under tail-coverts slate- colour, broadly tipped 
with white. 
The female differs in being much paler beneath. 
Iris brown ; upper mandible bluish black, lower plumbeous ; legs and 
feet dark plumbeous ; claws horn-colour. 
Length 5'5 inches, tail 17, wing 3"2, tarsus '75, bill from gape '9. 
The female is of the same size. 
The Burmese Nuthatch is common in the plains of Pegu, but I did not 
observe it on the hills. The birds sent to Lord Walden on which he 
based his description were procured in the Karin hills of the Tonghoo 
district. Mr. Davison found it in the northern and central portions 
of Tenasserim as far south as the base of Mooleyit mountain. Capt. 
Bingham states that it is fairly common in the Thoungyeen valley, and 
Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay procured it in Karennee. It is not known as yet 
to occur in Arrakan. 
This Nuthatch is only found in the dry forests, more especially in those 
which the Burmese term Ingdein. It is usually seen in pairs, and is 
always engaged in climbing the trunks and branches of trees, the bark of 
which it searches for insects. It appears to be able to traverse a branch 
in any direction and to descend head foremost with ease. The Nuthatches 
nest in holes of trees. 
This species is close to S. himalayensis, which diflPers, however, in 
having a patch of white at the base of the central tail-feathers. From 
S. castaneoventris it may be distinguished by the colour of the under tail- 
coverts, which in that species are slate- coloured fringed with chestnut, 
without any white. It is also very close to S. cinnamomeoventris : in 
this, the under tail-coverts are slate-colour with a large subterminal spot 
of white and then a chestnut tip ; in S. neglecta the chestnut tips are 
wanting. From both the last two named, 8. neglecta may be moreover 
known by the absence of any pure white on the chin or cheeks. 8. naga- 
ensis appears to me to be the same as 8. neglecta, but I have not been 
able to examine a specimen. 
